Hunt says he has no plans to shake up the Chiefs
 

Hunt says he has no plans to shake up the Chiefs
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. | Herm Edwards and Carl Peterson can relax — for now.

Edwards, the Chiefs’ head coach, and Peterson, the team’s president and general manager, were given votes of confidence this week by Clark Hunt, the team’s chairman. In an hourlong interview at the NFL’s fall meetings, Hunt said Edwards and Peterson were doing their jobs well despite the Chiefs’ 1-4 record and the fact the team was not competitive in three of those losses.

Peterson also came under fire this week after the team could not grant tight end Tony Gonzalez’s request to be traded. The Chiefs’ woeful performance the last two seasons has prompted many fans to call for the firings of Edwards and Peterson.

Hunt, 43, became the Chiefs’ controlling partner in December 2006 after the death of his father, Lamar Hunt, the team’s founder. Clark Hunt made his first big impact after the end of last season, in which the Chiefs finished 4-12, the team’s worst record since 1977.

Hunt at that time announced the Chiefs would embark on a massive rebuilding program centered on young players. He also laid out a set of expectations to meet this season.

Hunt on Wednesday indicated no regret about the course the Chiefs have set. The Chiefs have 16 rookies — almost a third of the team’s roster — and many of them start or play significant roles.

“From my standpoint, I still believe it’s the right approach,” Hunt said. “It’s certainly not without some pain in the short term. Hopefully, the prize at the end of the process is going to be well worth it. …

“It’s been a mixed bag, but I’m not sure that’s different from what I expected.”

Highlights of the interview follow:

Q: Do you have the right people in place to see the Chiefs through this rebuilding process?

Hunt: I think so. I would point to our draft this year. At the time, we felt good about it. Five games into the season, I feel equally good about it. The staff, including the coaching staff, did a great job of identifying the type of players they felt would be a good fit, the type of players they felt could become starting players in the NFL, the type of players they felt would become good Chiefs. The coordination and the sharing of a common perspective between the scouting department and the coaching staff is as good as I can remember it in the last 10 years.

Is Herm Edwards doing a good job?

I think he is. Certainly, competing in the NFL with as many rookies as we have on our team and as many rookies as we have in our starting lineup is difficult. But Herm is doing the right thing. He’s giving those players experience. I’m sure to some degree, some of those decisions are very tough. But he knows where he wants to go and what he needs to do to get there.

He will have one year left on his contract at the end of the season. Will he be coaching the Chiefs next season, and if so, will he receive a contract extension?

We haven’t made those decisions. Something that’s true for all our personnel is we will evaluate that thoroughly at the end of the year. I don’t feel that doing it in the middle of the year serves any purpose.

Is Carl Peterson doing a good job?

I think he is. Going back to our discussion about the scouting side working hand in hand with the coaching side, that really starts with Carl. He’s done a good job of overseeing that.

Have you made a decision on his future?

I haven’t. I would give you the same answer with him that I gave you with Herm.

His contract also has one year left when this season is over. Have you had a discussion with him about what he wants to do?

When we re-signed Carl three years ago, he mentioned to me at the time that he planned to retire at the end of his contract. He and I have not had a specific discussion on that point, but I don’t have any reason to believe his desires have changed.

Do you regret not bringing in a few more veterans to stabilize the situation?

Our head coach has a mind-set of how he wants to go about the rebuilding process. It does not involve keeping players or signing players who are at the end of their career. Could some older players make the difference in one or two wins? The answer is probably yes. That probably doesn’t take the team in the direction of developing the core group of guys.

After the end of last season, you set out some expectations for this year’s team. One was that the Chiefs would be competitive for a playoff spot. Is it still reasonable to expect that?

It’s very hard to project out what this team will look like later in the season. I’d like to think they’ll get better as the year progresses. If you look back at other teams who have gone through similar rebuilding processes, they’ve had a very tough first half of the season followed by a second half where things really turned around, and I really think the Chiefs have that chance if Brodie (Croyle) can stay healthy. That’s going to be a big part of the equation.

If you want to point to something we’ve seen in the first five games, I would point to the New England game and the Denver game as examples of what the team can do. Hopefully we’ll see more of that type of effort and consistency as the season progresses and less of what we saw in Atlanta and Carolina.

You also mentioned wanting to see the many young players getting better. Are you seeing signs of that?

I am. It’s very hard with rookies who are all of five games into their careers to notice improvement from week one to week five. I think the coaches, who spend a lot of time looking at the tape, will tell you they can see that progress. I’ve certainly been pleasantly surprised with the play of Branden Albert, Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr. … Will they get better as the season goes on? I would certainly expect it. You can also look at a couple of players from the draft a couple of years ago, (Bernard) Pollard and (Jarrad) Page, just to pick the safeties. I think their level of play is improving. It’s good to see guys like Turk (McBride) and Tank (Tyler) earning some significant playing time.

You also wanted to see offensive improvement, but we haven’t seen that. Is it reasonable to expect a better offensive team as the season goes on?

Yes, with the caveat you always have to have on injuries. Last year, losing Larry (Johnson) for half the season hurt the performance down the stretch. Likewise, not having Brodie for most of the first five games this year has clearly hurt the offense. There have been some signs that the offense is better than it was a year ago, but you really have to reserve judgment on that until we’ve seen the team with Brodie at the helm for a number of weeks.

Was it a difficult decision for the Chiefs to at least investigate a trade for Tony Gonzalez?

I don’t think there’s any other player on the team we would have been willing to do this for. But Tony’s been such a big part of the Chiefs, such a terrific pro, that we felt the right thing to do was to see what kind of interest there was out there in him and see if there was a transaction that made sense for Tony and also made sense for the Chiefs. At the end of the day, there wasn’t.

Have you talked with Gonzalez yourself?

No, I haven’t.

It obviously doesn’t help Brodie Croyle to lose Tony. Was that a consideration?

Ultimately it didn’t play into the decision, but it did occur to Herm, Carl and myself that having Tony stay with the Chiefs would help Brodie develop.

Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel and that 2009 will be better for the Chiefs than 2008?

Very much so. That’s part of the reward for playing so many young guys. Once those players get into the second and third years of their careers, they’re going to be that much better. If we can keep this core group of guys together going back to some of the players we drafted in 2006, we could really have a talented and still young but experienced football team in 2009 and 2010.

You strongly endorsed this rebuilding program. If it fails, how much blame should fall on you?

As the individual who has responsibility for hiring the general manager, there certainly would be some part of it that would fall on me. But philosophically, we’re going to be an organization that builds our football team through the draft. So to an extent, we’re always going to be in the process of rebuilding. We got away from that in the early part of this decade, which is why our team hit the wall last year.

I don’t think you can really fail at what we’re trying to do. Maybe the success won’t come as fast as we’d like it to. If we don’t have that quick success, we’re not going to abandon what we’re doing and go to the opposite approach, which is to build a team by signing free agents.

There have been a handful of teams that have been able to do that and be successful, but typically, that success is short-lived and you don’t really have the foundation that allows you to be regularly competitive at a high level.

Is there a division at Arrowhead Stadium right now between a Herm Edwards camp and a Carl Peterson camp?

That’s an interesting question, because I’ve had other people ask me that. I don’t sense that. If it exists, I’m not aware of it, and I’m around the organization a lot, so I think I would see it if it was there.

In your interviews shortly after the end of last season, you were full of praise for Edwards but basically indicated you didn’t fire Peterson because Edwards didn’t need the burden of working with an unfamiliar general manager. If indeed that division exists, it is something you perhaps created?

The intent was not to elevate one over the other. We have a head coach who was and is very eager to build the team through the draft. That’s something I also believe in. Carl, to his credit, was willing to let Herm take that path and had the scouting department in place to help Herm pursue that path in terms of building the team. You may have taken away from that conversation that I was lifting one above the other, but the truth is, for us to be successful, we need them to be working together with a common vision. I’ve been very pleased with what I’ve seen in that regard.

Are you aware of the anger among the fans in Kansas City about the Chiefs right now?

I am, and I certainly understand their frustration with a 1-4 record. I share their pain. I hate losing more than anybody. The path we’ve chosen to take the team in terms of trying to rebuild it posed the risk that the early part of the season was going to be tough. We’ve been living through that. … I do share in the frustration. But I do believe in the direction we’re headed and that the team will get better as the season goes on.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chi...ry/843090.html

OMG, I don't even want to read that. I just threw up in my mouth a little after reading the headline.

In the mean time, he will continue to significantly raise ticket prices every year while we continue to be the laughing stock of the NFL for next few years.

Right. It's time.

wow.

really???...wow.

Nothing like having Carl and Herm take a dump, place it in a brown bag....light it...leave it on the field at Arrowhead....and call it a "professional" organization.........and still...get a vote of confidence from the owner!

One can only hope that this vote of confidence is one of those votes of confidence that really means the opposite....and Carl and company is out the door in 3 weeks....

One can only dream...

We are all kidding ourselves when we thought real change would come. Peterson leads Clark by the hand when it comes to the team.

"Vote of Confidence" is often synonymous with "Kiss of Death".

What's that on the horizon?- If you look closely, it looks like another crappy season!

Someone just kill me. I cant take this sh*t anymore.

They're both gone at the end of the year. We only have to suffer through 11 more games.

Other words shit better change

Well its a bad bad time for all .. Coaching drafting playing .. Hopefully it will turn for the better .. But Im a homer ... Kick me please ...

May God Himself help you guys.

Carl will be gone and the new GM will decide whether or not to keep Herm around. JMO though.

Clark is a ****ing ass clown

That amounts to them both being gone, IMO.

Wow, how dishearting..... Makes me want to buy season tickets...

I cant believe I have to go through ANOTHER season before I can go back to Arrowhead for a game...

Guys like Dane and KCJohnny are rejoicing tonight...

What is he going to do right now? After the season they'll both be canned and they can search for the new GM and HC after that..

Might as well let them finish the year, we won't get the right guys now

Clark is still waiting for descending testicles to occur. No nuts.

I BELIEVE IN CLARK HUNT

WTF are you talking about?

Are you incapable of reading between the lines?

They're gone. Both of them. Adios.

If you were honestly expecting it to happen mid-season, then that's you're own fault. But if you don't read that and see that Clark's dropping the hammer come January, I don't know what to do for you.

Feel better?

The last line I highlighted is the most telling in the interview IMO.

That we only have to suffer for 11 more games?

You bet your ass.

:spock:

He's already said he's not doing anything mid-season.

Why would he give any OTHER answer to that question than the one he did?

hopefully it goes by quick

I surely hope so, but at the same time, it does bother me that somebody would say publicly (when it's very obvious that the public already knows that they are doing a very shitty job) that they are doing a good job, despite being 1-4 and not showing up 3 of the 5 games.

I'm sorry, but it's like "sugarcoating" where I feel that "Hey, no, they are not doing a good job. In fact, they're doing a piss-poor job and unless there is actual improvement in 4 weeks, they're both gone."

I am not so certain about that. This could be the dreaded vote of confidence or it could be they are staying and fulfilling their contract.

Either way I am depressed after reading that garbage.

Vote of Confidence=DOOM for Carl and Herm

Like I said, in the previous post and others before Clark is expecting progress if their isn't heads are gonna role.

Clark its not about the W/L's, why can you understand that? A man with your education and money should be able to understand something so simple as this..

What we are pissed about is we are trying to develop a team with a 1950s mindset. We want to see progress, we want to see coaches gameplan to the strengths of the players, we want to see the coaches put the players in the best position to succeed...

What we are seeing is a coaching staff scaring the absolute hell out of these young guys, not allowing them to develop properly all along installing a loser mentality that will take years to fix once you decide to shit can Herm stupid ass Edwards...

Follow? Its really not hard...

His contract also has one year left when this season is over. Have you had a discussion with him about what he wants to do?

This doesn't sound good

This whole article makes me feel like we just lost the AFC championship on a last second field goal...

Or like losing to the colts in 1995....

What good does that do, other than make the fans feel better about it?

Usually if the owner is making comments like that, it's at the press conference where he just announced he fired the staff.

There's nothing wrong with taking the high road publicly. We have no idea what's being said privately.

If I'm a coach thinking about this job come December/January, I look back at how Clark handled this and think "here's an owner I'd like to work for."

JMO.

That HIS desires have changed.

Carl may still want to retire after 2009, but it's not his call.

Seriously, what did you really expect Clark to say?

"I'm extremely unhappy with Carl and Herm. Both will be fired at the end of the season."

No one has EVER done that in the history of professional sports.

Clark's only other response was to deny Adam Teicher an interview. He's not going to do that, he's a nice guy.

No way. They are all ours through 09. Bank on it.

Speak for yourself....

I have zero desire to support Herm or Carl in 08 let alone in 09....

The bolded section, you are correct. However, a coach should also know that this is a business, and in order to survive in this business, you must win games.

Herm isn't winning any games, therefore, he should be publicly ridiculed.

Do you see owners rip their HC's all the time?? I can't recall much honestly, who cares if the owner isn't ripping Herm, his ass is gone at the end of the year

QFFT

0-16 or 4-12, if the team is not progressing and the coaches are continually failing the players.. You have to make a change regardless....

I don't expect him to say that they will be "fired". I do expect him to show disappointment considering the facts have been shown that the team has NOT SHOWN ANY IMPROVEMENTS AT ALL!

How can you praise a guy who has not shown you, the boss, any improvement at all?

Personally a response would be like "I am not happy with the performance and I do hope that there'll be significant improvements soon."

That's all needs to be said.

This article has to have you dancing around the house.....

Agreed... And it is really not the players fault... You have to give them the opportunities to succeed....

As Clayton pointed out, that just doesn't happen.

The only form of public ridicule most owners are going to take part in is flat out firing the guy mid-season.

Clark has come right out and said that's not going to happen.

Why?

So you'll feel better as a fan?

It changes nothing.

Fine dont fire him mid season, this season is wasted anyway... But dont blow smoke up our asses and drive away more fans, because you dont want to offend you sorry HC or GM....

And IMHO, he's making a mistake. How many more games does he need to see in order to finally convince himself that Herm isn't the answer?

I mean, I can tolerate Herm if the team was losing, yet at the same time, there ARE IMPROVEMENTS being done to the team.

Guess what, we're 1-4, and I have NOT SEEN ANY IMPROVEMENTS, outside of the secondary, from this football team.

Drive away more fans?

ROFL

He has his money for this year. He doesn't lose out when Joe the Plumber decides not to use his 4 tickets and parking pass every week. They've been paid for since May.

From reading between the lines, I'd say he's already convinced that Herm's not the answer.

But firing Herm NOW and promoting Gunther doesn't solve anything. He can't hire a new coach mid-season.

I don't know what you think is so funny. Joe the Plumber may not buy tickets in the future.

Hope you don't run a business, because with that attitude you would be out of business very fast.

True, but the average fan that goes to several games a year, Loss of revenue from parking, concessions, merchandise.. Keeping Herm and Carl this long will take a toll on the bottom line and next year it will be even more noticable...

I am sure that Joe Dirt paid his price and is now avoiding the games, I feel for him and his mullet wearing family.....

What?

This place is littered with people saying that ticket sales will instantly skyrocket the minute Carl and Herm are fired.

Which is it?

There are many of previous STH's ready and willing to buy back into the fold...

so why would they say that?

And you honestly think more people would use their tickets, or more people would buy single game tickets if Herm was fired and Gunther was running the show?

ROFL

It serves no purpose to fire them in the middle of a season, other than to placate sandy vags that aren't attending games anyway, and still wouldn't attend with an interim coach running things.

He has to fire them first, and just because you think you read between the lines, in reality they are still ****ing employed, with no termination date thus far.

Why does it have to be Gunther?

You tell me.

I'm responding to smitty's comment about Joe Plumber not buying tickets in the future.

I'm trying to figure out which it is.

They'll buy, or they won't buy?

My family wont buy again until Carl and Herm are gone... They gave up 30+ tickets this last year...

I can only speak for them, not others...

Fine.

Gailey.

Or Dick Curl.

Take your pick, it's more of the same.

Mid-season firings or not, NOTHING is going to change until an entirely new coaching staff and front office is brought in.

Dude why you yelling? I agree and understand... Nothing good can come from the mid season firing...

I never suggested it, I am fine for cleaning the house at the end of the season...

I just dont want to hear our owner give any thing that keeps hope alive for those deadbeats, I would rather Clark just keep his man pleaser shut and not say another damn word until the season is over...

You can hear me through the interweb?

Cool.

Yes now quit you are going to wake up the kids and then the wife will kick my ass...

OTWP, I did respond above


to continue on that,
I don't care if they are fired now or later, but I would have at least liked to hear him say that he was a little disappointed so far, and that he expects for it to get better.

On a side note, my family and friends have not been going to the games and most likely will not go until they are gone. If they fire them mid season, you can bet your ass that I will be at AH the next game.

going to bed, not feeling good

To add to that, I usually go to 3 or 4 home games a year...

Havent been to one since Herm was hired, IF he is fired, I will be at the first home game he isnt...

Hell my 11 year old son is begging to go, but understands that we have to wait until Herm is done ruining the team...

K, please dont die on us...

I really disagree with you. After reading the whole thing, I think he made it clear that he understood that having 15 of your 45 active players as rookies means things will look ugly in the 1st half of the year. He actually cited the fact that previous rebuilding teams went through the same thing. He explicitly said that signing a couple more veterans could have made the team look better right now, but that they decided not to take that course in the interest of longer term goals.

As long as Herm gets the team to look improved by the end of the year, I think he comes back based on these comments. I would say no contract extension, so that he has to coach for his life next year with significantly higher expectations. But it is true that if the team stays this bad by December, Herm will be gone.

Unfortunately for most of you guys (sorry Rerun), Clark thinks like me. He maintains long-term persepctive and doesn't let short-term emotions make him flip-flop week to week like Claythan. He understands that we haven't seen the Chan Gailey offense with Croyle yet. He cites most of the same arguments I do. I love this guy.

Will you stop with that? You're a fan too.
You don't work at Arrowhead Stadium.

And yes, fans do want to feel like the owner of the franchise they support cares about winning and losing. Of course he wasn't going to publicly berate his Head Coach and GM. That's extreme. But you can't tell me he couldn't have given a real assessment of the situation and expressed disappointment with how things have gone.

That worries me. It really does.

Next year = 0-16

Keep yelling then. He needs a good ass kicking. :D

Are you aware of the anger among the fans in Kansas City about the Chiefs right now?

I am, and I certainly understand their frustration with a 1-4 record. I share their pain. I hate losing more than anybody

What pisses me off is he doesn't get it - just like the stooges he has working for him. The 1-4 record doesn't bother me that much. It is the complete ineptness of this team. The coaching is the worst IMO - this offense and defense seem to have absolutely no clue how to be successful and show no signs of improvement in the entire time Herm has been here. Carl's executive decisions have brought the team to this and he really should be held accountable for the mess we are currently in. The Chiefs are run like the government. It's certainly not their fault - it has to be somebody else's.

I hate to say it, but I told you so.

They are tanking this season. They have 0 intention to win games.
If you want to build completely through the draft, you need those high picks. Clark has looked at teams like the Chargers, and has excepted the fact that he's gonna have to tank a few seasons to build a talented roster. He's totally on board with Herm. They all know that winning games is the lowest priority of this season.

I don't even want to give him the satisfaction of retiring as the Chiefs GM, he has flushed this team down the drain and left it's fans in the wake. I don't want to see him leave on his own accord.

He's going to walk away without a championship or even a showing in the Super Bowl after almost 20 years...

Exactly. The pitiful, predictable, RRPP offense, and a struggling swiss cheese like defense.

If they were showing marked improvement every game, then fine...ok we are going somewhere, but they aren't showing ANY improvement, in fact it's getting worse. 34-0 isn't just pathetic its down right embarassing.

Especially for someone who lives in another city. :cuss:

You've absolutely got to love the epic level of stupidity on display here (by Clark). Of course that's about what I'd expect out of someone that rode his daddy's coattails to whatever success he's had in life.

**** you Clark Hunt, you insignificant piece of shit.

Carl will still be a part of this organization in 2010.

Herm will not be fired after this season. I promise you.
Clark came out and said he had expaectations for this season because it would have been unacceptable to the fans to say otherwise. Herm, Carl, and Clark all knerw we wouldn't win jack this season, and are prepared to suffer through it, so they can get good picks, and build the team. All this outrage is useless. They are banking on us all forgetting about a couple of shittt seasons by building a winner. Too bad Clark doesn't know that Herm is a clueless coach, and that he will never be able to coach a SB team.

No plans for a shake up = No plans for a contender :grr:


I hope this comes back and bites Clark in the ass so hard he eats crow for a decade.

he actually didn't give either a vote of confidence past this year, unless i missed it...